A Flash of Romance
by Captain Cringe
Summary: Elias enjoys his time with the members of Rainbow. He has always managed to remain focused, despite his humorous shenanigans on serious operations. Lately though, he has started to form new feelings about a close friend of his, Monika. Now, the commander has something new in store for the team, and they will be pushed to new limits in their most dangerous operation yet.
1. Chapter 1

**Note to Moderators:  
This story was previously removed due to the inclusion of Musical Lyrics, I assure you now that this has been removed and that this story does not break any of the content guidelines.**👍

*Authors Notes

\- I have used a dash between paragraphs to show significant changes in time frames.

\- There will be another chapter. Enjoy. :)

 **CHAPTER 1**

What laid before me was far worse than my greatest nightmares, this I knew.  
Our head Chef is quite cruel at times, deciding that when absent, will give Alexsandr the opportunity to cook for the team; which he is yet to refuse without a large smile and sprint to the kitchen. The Chef understands the consequences too, (having tasted his cooking before) but he receives his own meals so he doesn't seem to care about the quality of ours. Now there are a few problems with this: Firstly, Alexsandr's cooking is beyond terrible, perhaps he thinks his "Advanced Experience" in the field somehow carries into the preparation of food. Secondly, I believe he's unaware of his cooking skills, maybe he's yet to taste his own food.  
What sits in front of me appears to be... A bowl of pickles and chopped raw potato, swimming in mayonnaise? I'm not entirely sure.

Most likely noticing my disgusted facial expression: Monika, a close friend of mine, finds her way to my table and sits down.  
"You look like you just saw Mike get into his Badeanzug, how's the food?" She asks, following with a light giggle and a concerning stare down at my food.

"Very funny," I respond sarcastically. "I'm honestly not sure how he found this much mayonnaise, I would be much better off shooting myself in the foot so I could avoid this." I continue my staring contest with the bowl of mayonnaise for a few moments, before looking up to her again. "How do you manage to survive during desperate times like this?" I respond, attempting to recall the last time she ate Alexsandr's food.

She leans in closer to me and whispers, "I don't eat any of his food. I have a toaster in my room that I use for "emergencies" like this. I don't want to hurt the big guy's feelings, but he never seems to notice anyway. I come downstairs afterwards to talk with you all and watch you suffer." She finishes with a laugh and a guilty smile.

"An Emergency Toaster? You really are the genius they say you are," I say, pointing my spoon towards her. Surprisingly she seems to brighten at the substandard compliment. "Perhaps maybe your toaster could get me out of _this_ emergency, as well?" I say with a light chuckle, attempting to hide my inner desperation, in order to get out of eating this slop.

She examines me for a moment, "Of course, but just don't pass out on me before we get there." I Realised that I was quite tense due to the thought of a possible alternative meal. After seeing _this_ , even toast excited me. We can never usually get our hands on meals apart from the ones given to us.

She looks into the kitchen, "Alexsandr is in the kitchen at the moment so we may be able to just sneak past up towards my room." She quickly ushered me out my seat towards the lounging area.

Upon reaching the doorway we run into Mike, also exiting the mess hall, holding his bowl of practically untouched mayonnaise swimming pool. He was in a rush and stuttered when speaking: "Move" He commanded as he pushed through us. I ask him, "Where are you off to, Mike?"  
He stops dead in his tracks and turns, pointing to us and speaking slowly, "You didn't see a fu**ing thing." Immediately he darts out the front door of the premises; we hear the slopping of mayonnaise against the ground and a distant "Why the fu** did I even have a single taste of this shi**!" We walk up the stairs, both Monika and I chuckling, hearing Mike audibly complain outside.

We're met with long hallway which contains a large portion of the rooms in the building, for which a majority of the operators sleep. Everyone has their own private rooms, it's basically the best and only privacy that you will receive here.

Dominic, another friend of mine, is quite talented when it comes to displaying his own message of privacy; he used to attach his electrical cables to the doorknob, so whenever someone tried to enter his room they were presented with a painful shock and a snicker from inside. Though, he regrets the time he shocked Emmanuelle by mistake, as he forgot to turn the system off and said she could come inside. The following day he met her own special shock tool, and he's disabled his ever since.

We reach Monika's room, hanging from the doorknob is a tiny model of my shield, (A special design of mine, which is essentially a ballistics shield with a multitude detonatable flashbangs on the front.) I gave it to her as a gift for her last birthday, I told her it represents safety, though I also wanted to say it resembled her "Blinding Beauty", get it? I figured that may have been a bit too far, though, and I didn't want it to be taken in a weird way.

As always her room is very organised and clean, she's most likely the reason to why whenever I try to use the vacuum it's apparently "In Use" because this place appears to be cleaned more than 20 times a day.

Relieved to be out of that situation, I walk over and flop backwards onto her bed, creasing the blankets and staring into the ceiling. I look over at her, and she has her hands on her hips, with a playful, yet irritated expression on her face. I know she doesn't like me messing with her clean room. I give off a smirk and stare back at the ceiling. "Don't worry, I've barely done anything, the building's not going to fall apart."  
She brushes it off, assuming that I'm not going to be lifted from her bed, and walks over to it. She falls backwards and drops next to me on the bed as well, big enough to nicely fit the both of us. We stare silently at the ceiling for a while, as if we were stargazing into a clear and starry night.

I don't know anyone who I feel more comfortable around than Monika. Sure, there are many operators which I can consider being good friends with, but Monika is for sure my closest, and it just feels right being around her.

Lost in my thoughts, I had completely forgotten the main reason for why I came here, she had food. You didn't want to miss out on your meals here, especially the day before hard training. Feeling tired and hungry the following day is a large burden.  
I was about to get up and attempt to find her Emergency Bread and Spreads when my thought process was interrupted.

"Hey, Elias?"

"Ja?"

"Who do you think they'll pick for the operation?"

In Four days Rainbow will launch our biggest assault against the White Mask Organisation. It will apparently crumble the organisation to the ground, essentially removing them as a threat. I haven't thought too much about the operation since they haven't provided us with details or even notified us of the included operators. It's very likely to be our most dangerous operation yet.

"I'm not too sure," I say.

She turned her head to look at me, I realised her expression was no longer relaxed, but distressed. Her next question surprised me:

"Are you worried? What if we're picked, Would we be ready for an operation like this?"

I could tell that she was fearful when saying those words. I understood her feelings completely; being assigned a mission where your life and friends may be in greater danger than ever before and knowing that you cannot back down. It's a lot to grasp.  
I know Monika, she would understand she is likely to be picked, but she's doubting her own capability, this is a first for her. She probably just needs some comfort.

"Monika, listen," I say quietly. I sit up and lean forward on the bed. "You don't have to be worrying about this, you are a fantastic operator and even if you were picked, I know that you would find a way to get the job done."

She lets out a deep breath, still lying flat on the bed. "Maybe you're right, I don't even know if I will be picked yet." She takes another deep breath for a few seconds, then looks back at me. "Thanks Elias, I really needed some reassurance before the picks tomorrow"

"Of course, you don't have to worry, I'll always be here for you." She lets out a smile and also sits up on the bed.

"So can I have some toast now?" 

* * *

Having made my way back to my own room, I decided to distract myself for a while, since I wasn't very tired. I opened my cupboard, it was one of those larger cupboards you hardly ever see, the ones where you have enough space to walk in and not feel squashed.  
Laying there against the wall was my specially designed flashbang shield. The commander lets me keep it in my room with me. My argument was "Seamus keeps a sledgehammer in his room and Alexsandr can keep an LMG in his room, I don't see the problem with a _Shield_ in my room."  
I stare at it for a while. I usually call it my "Flashbang Shield", or just "My Shield". I don't actually have a proper name for it like Gilles' "Le Roc". I start cleaning the glass panel on the shield. Perhaps maybe I should give it a name, make it a bit more unique.  
I examine it some more. It may even be possible to enhance the shield in some ways.

Immediately Seamus walks into the room, I realise that I had never closed the door properly.  
"Jordan said I should come up here and tell you they got a dessert ready tonight, everyone's already down there."  
As if reading my mind, he jumps in to add, "Oh, and no mate, Alexsandr did not make it. He pitched the idea to everyone after dinner and Mike threw a fu**en fit at him and said that he'd make it instead. You're in luck." I spring back up to my feet and head downstairs with Seamus. 

* * *

This was the first time I've seen everyone in the mess hall with smiles on their faces the same day that Alexsandr had cooked dinner. It looked like Mike had dished up a sort of Custard and cake delight, which I was very happy to see. I head over to him, "Hallo".  
He was facing away from me and spoke slowly with a regretful tone, "I said some things I shouldn't have. He wouldn't want to see me right now, do us a favour mate and give this bowl to him, he's outside. The other ones for you." He gestures in the general direction of the desserts in front of me.  
"Uh, Sure thing," I say with an uncertain tone.  
Bringing the bowl outside I see Alexsandr leaning against one of the brick foundations. Standing next to him I see he's staring down at Mike's emptied bowl of Mayonnaise soup on the grass.  
"Leave me," He grunts. I hold out the bowl towards him,  
"Dessert?" I try for some sort of smile. He takes a glance, then reaches out and calmly grabs the bowl from my hand. He gestures in a dismissing motion towards the door. Respecting his wishes I re-enter the building, leaving him outside. I feel quite bad for the guy, I'm not even sure of what Mike said to him, it must have been quite bad for it to have affected him as much as it did.

Back in the mess hall, I see the majority of the SAS and FBI SWAT have joined in around the largest table and are playing a game of poker. From where I am I can see Jack has his Cardiac sensor enabled and concealed underneath the table, reading the heart rates of the other players to tell if they're bluffing or not. He saw me and could tell that I knew what he was doing. He shot me a wink then proceeded with his game.

I decided that I have had enough for the night, and headed back upstairs.  
I run into Dominic before entering my room, he leans against my doorway preventing me from entering.

"Hey, Elias, ready for training tomorrow?"

"Are you ready to get beaten tomorrow?"

"Ha! You joke! It's too bad tomorrow's training is cooperative. I asked the commander what he has planned for training tomorrow, its CQB. As you know, he would normally only reveal it on the day, but he decided he would spill the beans if I got Mike to make him some dessert. Good luck tomorrow, the commander will be monitoring our performance, most likely trying to make some sort of final decision."

"Interesting, see you tomorrow."

I proceed to flop face first onto my bed.

* * *

I'm used to getting up to my alarm in the morning, but was surprised to wake up to the thumping of pillows against my face and the words "Wake up, sleepyhead!"  
Of course, it was Monika. She had her hair done up in a bun today, wearing her usual jeans and grey long sleeve.  
"I know you would want to keep sleeping, but I woke up earlier and I'm heading down to the course, so you're coming with me, go get ready" She spoke in a somewhat commanding tone, still with a smile on her face, possibly due to her having the opportunity to repeatedly slap me in the face with my pillows. I barely get the words "Ok?" out of my mouth before she has already left the room.

I was still in a light daze, having woken up seconds earlier, but because of Monika's early wake-up, I had plenty of time before training.  
I have a quick shower and throw on my usual apparel before heading downstairs, not forgetting to take my Shield down so that I wouldn't have to do it later.

It's noticeably quiet at this time, I guess no one must be awake yet. Looking around I see the mess hall is empty… except for Ryad, laying down on a couch surrounded by empty bottles. I doubt he drank all those himself. He usually has difficulty sleeping, and he might miss the training if no one wakes him. I quietly creep up and place my phone next to him, set with my alarm of 8 AM, so that he doesn't miss training at 8:20

I take a walk outside, noticing that the sun has barely risen at all. I follow the path that leads around the building, into our large training area. As expected I find Monika, she's tinkering with her Spectre. She noticed me while I was still distant from her, so I start talking as I close the distance. "Well, there goes an hour of my sleep schedule," Flashing her a playful smile.

"I thought that maybe you would want to examine the course with me before training."

"Examine the course..? _Oh_ , I see what you're doing. You're getting a small head start before training. Trying to impress someone today?" I give her a cheeky smirk.

She looks at me and smiles, rolling her eyes. "I see Dominic told you about the commander monitoring us this session?"

I finally arrive next to her, "Mhm. But why would you want to have an improved performance? I thought you were worried about being picked?"

She looks down at the ground. "I gave it some more thought..." I see her bite her lip for a second. "Elias, I know I'm going to be picked. I don't want to sound like I'm boasting or anything, but my Spectre is essential for too many operations, it ensures that we're never walking into a trap, and highly increases the safety of the team. Now that's great and all, but here's the thing. I've always felt that the commander only chooses me because of my gadget, not because of my ability; he's never focused on that. I want to be recognised as more than just this flip up scanner on my wrist."

I took in what she just said for a few moments. Maybe the reason she was doubting her own capability is because the commander fails to recognise it. I wonder how long this has been bothering her.  
"Monika, when I think of your greatest features, I think of your intelligence and diligence. You have the ability to quickly assess a battlefield and direct allies safely. You also have quite the shot. There are so many great things about you besides your gadget." It's hard to see because she's still looking at the ground, but I can see her eyes light up and a smile form on her face. I continue: "Maybe the commander doesn't take these features into account because he doesn't know you well enough. He's always hiding away somewhere and hardly ever interacts with the team, he's probably-" I'm cut off by a very familiar cough behind me.

"Ahem."

Neither Monika or I had noticed him walking up behind me. Both being surprised, Monika accidentally drops the tools she was holding, while springing up into an attentive stance. I swung around and almost hit him in the face with my shield, the shock causing him to drop the clipboard he was holding.

"My God Elias! Could you swing that thing _any_ closer to my face?!"

Monika scrambles out her words. "Commander! I'm so sorry, we didn't see you approaching."

Our commander is quite a tall man, a good 5cm taller than me, and has a solid build. (Not as good as mine, though.) He has short black hair, with a strong facial structure, lighter skin tone and a nose the size of Germany.

"Sorry, my bad Commander. Thought the hairs on your nose might have been too long." Monika looks at me and gives a 'This is not the time for that' face.

"Well please be more careful with that thing." He picks back up his clipboard and regains his stance. "Well. Before I was almost smacked in the face with a large piece of metal, I was coming out early to prepare the final additions to the course, and I managed to run into your conversation."

I ask the question that I know both Monika and I are wondering right now, "How much did you hear?"

He looks over at Monika intriguingly, responding very quietly, "Enough..."  
Seemingly snapping back to reality, assuming his natural voice, "My apologies you two, I shouldn't have interrupted your conversation the way I did." He then proceeds to walk off. For him to apologize like that was quite unordinary for him. We both watch him as he walks out of view.

I hear Monika walk up next to me. "You had to bring your little toy, didn't you?" She holds her hand up to her mouth and giggles.

I join in with her giggling, "I was very close to knocking him out."

"Why did you do that anyway?"

I grip my shield on the sides with both my hands and wiggle it in front of me."I didn't mean to, it all just happened in a _flash._ "

She covers her face with her hands "Uuurgghh. Oh my god, Elias." We both immediately burst out into laughter.

After a while of talking with Monika, we start to see other operators make their way into the field, including Jordan, Eliza and Meghan, who find their way to us. Eliza speaks first "Good Morning".  
Jordan then greets after, in his strong Southerly accent, "Mornin'. What have you two lovebirds been doing till now?"  
His question surprised both Monika and I, with the use of the words "Love Birds". We weren't in any sort of romantic relationship, we were just close friends, he knows that. I was about to ask him what he meant, but Monika gets the words in before I do.

"Love Birds?"

He responds swiftly, "I was just messing with you. Nevermind that though, what's been going on this morning?"

"Just shields, puns and a whole lot of fun" I joke.

"Well if you thought that was fun, you should see what the Commander has in store for us today," Meghan adds.

Eliza glances over at her. "You talked to him?"

"No, Dominic was talking to me last night and-."

"OoooOoooo." Eliza teases.

"Wait," Monika jumps in, "Are you and Dominic…"

Her face blushes "No! What? No, of course not! Come on, let's head out before we're late." Her aggressive tone stopped that conversation in its tracks.

Making our way towards the course I manage see Ryad stumbling towards us. "Thanks," He hands me my phone.

"I was worried, didn't think you were going to get up."

"It did the trick. Would have been glad if you set it to a few minutes earlier, though. I woke up to Miles drawing a penis on my forehead." Everyone laughed in reaction.

The CQB course layout hasn't been changed since the last time we used it, it has only been repaired. It's a series of plaster and wooden walls about 3 meters high in a somewhat maze-like formation, made to simulate a building of sorts. It's laid with rooms, filled with targets and traps. By this time everyone is scattered around the area near the front of the course.

The commander walks out with a group of about 15 men. He shouts, gaining the attention of every operator in the area "Alright! All of you, take your positions!" We hear a large amount of "Yes Sir"'s and all of the men walk into the course, and can no longer be seen. He looks at all of us, "You Lot! I'm assigning you all to groups of five, each group will have to complete an objective successfully with minimal casualties. Today's training will be against live targets, using pressurised firearms, and plastic ammunition. This means no lethal ammunition, but it will hurt like fu**! If you are hit 3 times or are hit in the head once, lay on the ground, you're dead!"

I was not expecting live targets, looks like he really is testing us.  
There is a large variety of equipment that is not allowed CQB Training. This includes destructive gadgets that could potentially be lethal to other operators. Shields are allowed, though my flashbang attachment would not be, due to the live targets. Suddenly the commander speaks up again.

"Going up first!: He looks down at his clipboard for a moment. "Pulse! Blitz! Blackbeard! IQ! And Castle!" Referring to us all by our codenames.

Monika looks at me, "I guess we're up. Didn't think there would be live targets."

Jack, Miles and Craig all have to wear helmets to protect them against the ammunition being used. Monika and I are allowed to use our usual GSG9 headgear.  
Miles shouts "Over Here!" and gestures towards a large table, stocked with the pressurized firearms. At this same time, the commander climbs up a ladder onto an elevated platform used to spectate the training session from above. He shouts:  
"Also! I will note that hand-to-hand combat is allowed for this specific exercise, due to the body armour you will be wearing, used simulate an actual operation. You must knock your enemy to the ground, just try not to break any bones!"

Jack pulls a thumbs up, "Got it."

I grab any sidearm I could find, there were multiple pistols lined up, so I took one of those.

Yet again the commander shouts from his platform, "Alright! Your objective is to infiltrate and rescue a hostage. Use any force necessary. You have limited Intel, so no use of any drones. Eliminate the threat, the hostage will be wearing a High Visibility orange vest. Failure to complete the objective within three minutes, or failure to keep the hostage safe, will be taken as a failed mission. Good Luck."

I was starting to feel the pressure of the situation, this was quite the jump from our regular training sessions. We all gather near the front of the course.

Monika asks, "Ready?"

"Ready. Just don't forget to aim your gun at the bad guys." That got a smile out of Miles, who seemed as calm as ever.

"BEGIN!" The commander shouts above us.

We quickly approach the entrance.  
Monika pulls out her spectre. "Sweeping the entrance." I notice how lovely her accent was, how have I not recognised that before?  
"Clear of electronics."  
I move up with my shield, standing right before the doorway, with my team behind me. There are two passageways, leading forwards and to my left. "Front is clear." I check my left, "Left passageway clear." Monika holds onto my shoulder behind me as I move up. I go forward down the passageway. Pulse takes out his Cardiac Sensor, "Scanning for hostiles… Hostiles detected in rooms to our left and right. One in the room to our left." We all speak quietly, not giving away our position.

"Let's go left first." I decide. The commander can hear us all over the comms.

Miles watches the passageways behind us, while the rest move forward. We reach another large cross-section, with a passageway to our left again, a wall in front of us, and a room to our right.

"Camera detected in the room to our right."

"Room is clear of hostiles."

Good to have those two with me, they're great at discovering who, and what, is in close proximity. Craig walks up in front of me, he has a small bulletproof glass shield placed upon the top of his gun. He slowly steps forwards and peeks around the corner with his weapon. "I see one." We immediately hear fire. "Hostile down."

"We must move fast," Monika tells us. After the first shot, Our position would be revealed. The room directly to our left has another target in.

"Moving into the room on our left." I speed up now, still with Monika behind me. Pulse alerts me of his position in the room. Before I turn the corner Monika grabs me and pulls me back, "There's a trap on the doorframe. We have to disable it first." I walk around the corner, at the end of the passageway I see a man lying on the ground casually, watching us, carrying out his orders for when he is shot. Next to us is an open door, the hostile hiding around the corner. I can just see a small box on the doorframe, with a green light attached to it. Monika shoots it once, I then spot the commander signal a man next to him on the platform. The light turns off.  
"Entering." I rush in with Monika behind me, holding my shield in front of me. We're immediately spotted and my shield starts taking fire, Monika returns fire around the side of my shield, hitting him multiple times in the head.  
"Holy fu**! Urrggh." He drops his weapon.

"Room is clear," I say over the comms.

We haven't located the hostage yet. We hear the commander speak over the comms. "Two Minutes remaining." We all move into the room above us.

"Camera detected." She shoots it once, hitting it dead on. A second later the light turns off. We enter the room, it's empty but has a closed door near the one we had just opened. Suddenly we all hear, "In here!"

Pulse shouts to us. "Three Hostiles, incoming!" We prepare ourselves.  
The door bursts out and we all open fire, hitting the first man so hard he fell to the ground. "AH! THAT HURT LIKE FU**!"  
Pulse speaks up, "There are two more waiting outside the door."

"Noted. I'll take care of them." Craig says confidently.

Miles speaks back to him, "No, let Blitz exit first, your rifle shield is not large enough, there may be more."

He responds louder, sounding aggressive this time, "I will take care of them."

Monika shouts at him. "Craig, stop!"

He turns the corner and spots the two hostiles, shooting them both in the head. He turns to his right, "Sh**!" Suddenly being hit multiple times on his exposed side, from a hostile down the passageway. The commander speaks over the comms again,

"You're gone Craig! Get on the ground." He follows his orders.

Pulse pulls out his scanner again, "The passageway to our left is now cleared, Craig was shot from the end of the other passageway."

"On my way. Stay behind me." I move out the room and start walking down the passageway, expectedly taking fire from the other end. Monika pops up from behind me and places a few bullets into him. We walk closer to the room.

"No further hostiles detected in that room."

Miles shouts, he was watching our flank. "Hostiles approaching from behind!"  
Two men immediately turn the corner right next to him, I aim my pistol and secure a headshot on the first hostile. Miles doesn't get a shot off before the man has knocked his gun out of his hands. Miles was in the way, and we couldn't assist in time. Luckily he could handle himself; instinctively punching the man in the chest and throwing him onto the ground and jumping on top of him.

"He's done." We hear over comms.

"We've cleared the west half of the building of hostiles," I inform.

The man lying below by my feet speaks up with a strong British accent. "Good job mate."

"Um… Thanks?"

The commander speaks over the comms again, "1 Minute remaining."

"We should move faster," I suggest. I proceed up the main passageway.

"Pulse holds out his scanner, two rooms up ahead, six targets spotted. The room on our right has four targets, one is lowered down, compared to the others. It may be the hostage. Located in the centre of the room."

Monika interrupts, "The doorways are rigged with traps, clearing them will not be an option."

"45 Seconds remaining." I was dreading hearing those words.

"We cannot shoot through the walls with these weapons." Miles worries.

I had an idea. "Ok, what I'm about to do is a bit crazy, but might work. Jack, where are the hostiles located?"

"Back left side, front left side, and here," He points to a location at the wall in front of us."

"I'm going to make a hole there, provide covering fire." They all look at me in confusion.

"30 Seconds remaining"

I take a few steps back until my back is up against the wall, and take a deep breath. I start running forward, gaining speed, holding my shield in front of me. The team finally realise what I'm doing and prepare themselves.  
The smash through the wall was surprisingly easy, I hit the wall and charged straight through, falling on my face. I feel bad for the man I sent flying forward in front of me. I hold my shield on top of myself but found out that was unnecessary, as Monika had immediately shot down all three of the men almost immediately after my entry. Everyone was stunned by what I had just done, including me.

The clock was ticking, I quickly get up. Monika sprints in and grabs the man in the centre of the room, who is bound around his hands, wearing the High visibility vest the commander spoke of.

"Quick, Run" She tells him.

At that moment I had only just gotten up, and I followed Monika out the hole I had made, back the way we came.

Jack shouts to her "We'll provide covering fire, Move!"

So the three of us turn, backing up slowly, waiting for someone to run after us. We start to hear a lot of shouting, and just as predicted, a large number of men run around the corner, weapons were drawn. I'm standing up with my shield, with Jack and Miles behind me, firing from around my shield. There was five of them in total, all knocked down in moments. I took a shot in my leg, but that was fine. We eventually back into the room where Craig is sitting, "Now, lets bolt for the exit. Go!" Listening to his command, we all dart for the exit, and Miles barricades the door behind us. We all sprint out the front door, hearing the timer's siren just after we had gotten out. Monika had already made it outside with the hostage. The other operators had all been sitting scattered outside and provide us with an applause.  
The commander comes down from the platform and walks over to us. "Two seconds… You finished with _two seconds_ left on the clock." He looks at us, his face not necessarily looking impressed, but satisfied. "Well done to you all. We will discuss more about your performance later. You're free to go for now."  
Everyone begins to exit the building, including Craig. One of the men were limping, covered in pieces of plaster. God, now I feel bad.

The commander addresses the men, "All Right. You lot! Set it all back up, next run begins in 10."

Monika puts her hand on my shoulder, "Nice one Elias, I never thought you could take over Seamus' job." She makes sure to say it loud enough for Seamus to hear.

"Yea, Yea whatever! _I_ could have done that _without_ falling on my face!"

"Want to head back inside?" She asks me.

"Sure, I think Jack said he would be going back to set up a game of Pool. It's about time someone shows him what losing looks like" I give her a cocky grin.

* * *

I sat next to Monika in the mess hall. It was late in the afternoon, just before sunset. We had spent many hours of the day repairing my shield, (I discovered that it actually broke upon impact with the wall. It _was not_ made to do that.) talking about training, and versing Jack and a few other operators in a Pool competition. Jack beat me three times in a row, but it turns out Monika is quite the player; beating me, Jack, Dominic and Shurat with ease.

We didn't stay for the other's training sessions but in our discussions, we found out that no other group successfully retrieved the hostage. Though I did hear some fantastic stories about the training. For example, how Zofia beat three men at once in hand to hand combat, and how Timur secured every hit for his team, all as headshots.

The commander walks in with a satisfied smile on his face. He stops in the centre of the mess hall, addressing everyone, "Alright then. I have finally come to a decision. Listen up." The room falls silent.

"For this upcoming operation, I have selected a group of operators who are efficient, cooperative as a group and are specialised in specific fields and gadgets, for which will enable a higher chance of success for this operation. We will be infiltrating a major supply line in Egypt. It has been used to privately transport supplies to White Mask groups all around the world while remaining undetected from our radars. If we bring that place to the ground, the entire organisation will come falling with it.

You cannot and will not reveal any details of the operation to anyone outside this room we are in now, it is considered highly confidential." He pauses for a moment. "The Operators included in the initial infiltration are as follows: Glaz. Pulse. Twitch. Blitz, and IQ." He leaves without saying another word.

We hear a lot of immediate discussions; some applauding, and a bit of swearing throughout the room.

Monika and I just sit there for a moment. I was actually quite happy with the result. I say to her,

"Looks like we both made the audition."

Her lips curved into a smile. "Ja, I guess we did." She looked proud of herself and was speaking gently. "And you know what? I'm not even worried about it anymore. There's no operation that you and I couldn't complete."

Her words were very comforting. We did, in fact, work well together. I felt that we're yet to see the extent of our ability.

I decide to break the topic of conversation. "We've been inside too long. Let's go watch the sunset." I figured that outside might be more peaceful, I know we'd both feel better away from everyone for a moment. We get up and walk upstairs, up and onto the balcony. It conveniently had a fantastic view of the sunset, so we lean on the railing.

"It's stunning," She tells me. "I'm glad I can actually see it and wasn't _completely_ blinded today from that shield of yours."

I laugh, "Well you didn't _have_ to help me repair it."

"I know I know, don't worry, I wanted to help. If I had let you fix it on your own, you would have accidentally set a second one of those flashbangs off in your face." We both end up laughing at the memory for a while.

One thing that never left my mind today was how Jordan described us as "lovebirds". I wondered if he actually thought of us as a couple, maybe he was teasing us, thinking that we have feelings towards one another...

...Now that I think about it, the idea doesn't seem so strange. As the laughing finally fades I look at her,

"Hey, Monika?" I had spoken with a quieter voice than normal.

"Ja?"

"Why do you think Jordan called us Lovebirds?"

"Oh," She was surprised by the question. "Well, maybe he thinks that..." She stops, and ponders ideas in her mind for a longer time than necessary.

Her gaze meets mine. "Elias, I..."

-"Hey you two!" Seamus interrupts, shouting from the doorway. "I am sick of being Jordan's bloody fu**en messenger, so this is the last time I'm doing this for you!  
Dinner is served, don't miss it. The Chef is _still_ absent, and Alexsandr wanted another opportunity to cook, he claims he's much better now, and Mike's old broken heart said that would be alright. So get your asses down there."

* * *

 _End Chapter_


	2. Chapter 2

_I have used horizontal lines separating paragraphs to show significant changes in time. Enjoy the final chapter. :)_

* * *

 **CHAPTER 2**

"Ha! What do you think of that? I finally beat you."

"Um… You missed one." She giggles, pointing towards a clean target without a single bullet hole in.

I immediately lose all my pride."Urgh. This is because I flashed myself with my shield yesterday. It's affecting my sight," I joke.

She rolls her eyes at me, and Dominic steps forward "Haha! Well, looks are we going to need to send you to the Doc then," He says in jest. "Give me a go."

"Sure, just don't hurt yourself," I say, moving out the way.

He picks up the P12 and loads it with a new clip. Proceeding to load each bullet carefully into the targets.

Meghan makes her way into the shooting range, approaching us "Hi everyone, I was wondering if you had seen-" She is suddenly interrupted as Dominic finally notices her,

"Meghan!" He drops the gun on the desk and runs over to her. He embraces her in a hug, almost with the intent to lift her off the ground. "You look lovely this morning."  
His face freezes after he spoke, remembering our presence. He turns towards Monika and I, and we watch both of their faces turn crimson.

"I'm getting a small hint that there's something going on between you two," I say.  
Seeing Monika smirk at the two, I could see that she clearly understood the situation as easily as I did.

Dominic lets go of Meghan for a moment, and holds his hands in front of him, "You see, um… Listen…" He was at a loss for words.

Monika jumps in, "Oh come on, there's no denying it now." She crosses her arms, "Why were you hiding this relationship? And how long has it been going on for?"

Meghan covers her face with her hands, "Alright." Then looks towards Dominic. "I guess it's fine if _they_ know. Just as long as _he_ doesn't."

Dominic scratches the back of his head, "Well… it's been about 10 Months?"

Both Monika and I speak simultaneously," _Months?"_

"Ja," He admits. "The only reason to why we wanted to keep it a secret was because Craig and Meghan were in a relationship and,"

-"and I broke up with him for Dominic," Meghan interrupts. "But he didn't actually know that it was because of him. We didn't want him to see me in a new relationship."

"So could you do us a favour and not mention any of this to Craig?" Dominic finishes.

"Sure, of course," I say.

"Thanks," He says, relieved. "We'll be off then."

They turn and leave, and I just manage to see them grasp each other's hands before they leave our sight.

"Wow." I mumble, quite shocked by everything that had just unfolded."I had suspicions after yesterday, but I didn't think it was true. Meghan and Dominic…"

"Ja," Monika agrees. She glances at me, then stares towards where the two had left. "I guess it shows that there could actually be working relationships around here."

I felt as if that statement wasn't meant to seem generalized...

She loads her gun. "Round 2?"

* * *

The shooting range is surprisingly far from the base, so it's quite the walk. Completing this walk every day would be good enough training as it is, luckily It's usually not boring for me since Monika always tags along.

But today the walk was different to usual, it wasn't as active. We were silent, but it just didn't feel that way. My thoughts felt clouded, but I couldn't understand what it was with.

I look over at her, _something_ about her seemed different. Perhaps it could be what she's wearing? It was just her casual wear, nothing special.

She notices my staring and smirks. "What are you looking at?"

"Oh-, I," I snap back to reality.

She moves to the right and uses some momentum to give me a light shove, clearly teasing me.

"Give me a break, you look nice today." I give her a small playful shove to the left, with a bit more force than she gave me.

She grinned, "Well you're gonna need to keep _some_ focus. We don't want you running face first into a pole." She shoved me further, surprisingly sending me off balance for a moment. That made her giggle.

I realise that I was getting quite hot, and decided to pull my shirt off and throw it over my shoulder. It wasn't hard to notice her eyes suddenly widen and scrutinize me intently. I decide to tease her back, "Well it looks like I'm not the only one who needs to remain focused."  
Her face turned scarlet. I tease her some more, jokingly flexing as I place my hands behind my head. "I guess It's hard to avert your eyes from someone as dazzling as me," I spoke sarcastically, which sent her into laughter. I then carry myself to the left, shoving her almost as hard as she shoved me. She stumbles for a moment and starts falling to the left. I impulsively reach out and grab her hand as she's falling and pull her towards me. I pulled too hard, and sent her flying towards me. She slammed into me and sent us both tumbling off the path down a grass slope.

"Sh*t!"

"Oh my God Elias!"

The tumbling stops. I look up and realise I was lying on the grass with Monika lying on top of me, pinning me to the ground.

I really hope I didn't hurt her. "God, I'm sorry. Are you ok?"

She pushes herself up, with her hands against mine, putting herself in a position where she has my hands pinned by hers, while sitting on my stomach. She was simpering and looking down at me.

"Didn't think it would be that easy to pin you down like this."

She's fine.

I try to get up, but she's forcing my arms into the ground. " _Wooow_ , ok. You want to play this game?" I try harder to get up again, but she keeps me pinned to the ground.  
She giggles at my second attempt,

"So for the strongest man in Rainbow."

She's challenging me here, but I had an idea. I glance down at my pants, "Oh Scheisse! There's a hole in my pants, don't look!" She immediately looks down towards my crotch. I throw all my force on my left arm and catch her by surprise, rolling us over, and pinning her now.

"So for the smartest girl in Rainbow."

I must have had such a large smirk on my face, "Looks like I outsmarted you," I say, both of us locked into each other's gaze. She really blushing now, realising how she had been fooled.

She looked down, and became visibly mad. "Elias! You ripped my shirt open!" I immediately look down at her chest, failing to notice her leg pull out and swing behind mine.

Did I _really_ just fall for that?

She used some sort of Jiu-Jitsu-type move to practically trip me over myself, putting her on top of me again. She was giggling.

I let my head fall back onto the grass in defeat. " _Fine_ , you win."

She lets go of my arms and sits up on top of me, hands on hips. Clearly taking some sort of pride in her victory. Her eyes were sparkling. I bring my arms up and rest them behind my head.

"You're definitely stronger than you look, I have to give you credit for that."

"Don't forget to compliment me on how I'm smarter than you"

"Pff…" I roll my eyes. "When did you learn Jiu Jitsu?"

"We have a lot of spare time around here when we aren't training. I put it to good use."

We hear a shout from up at the path, with a recognisable southern accent.

"What the fu** are you two doing down there!"

I feel as if we're always interrupted at the worst possible times. From what I could see, there were Jordan and Eliza looking down at us from the grass about eight or so meters away.

"No sex outside! At least wait until it's darker out!" He shouts.

A shock ran through Monika's face, she tried to deny anything, still sitting on top of me. "No! Nothing was happening, we were just…" She lowered her voice, "We were just messing around." She muttered her last words so that Jordan and Eliza wouldn't be able to hear her.  
I was holding my breath, she looked beautiful, as if there was some sort of glow illuminating from around her. I couldn't part stop my adoration; I was almost trembling from underneath her.

She finally gets up off of me and stands up. "Here," She offers her hand out to me, and I take it as she helps me up. She directs Jordan and Eliza, "We'll walk back with you two." She starts climbing back up the slope, and turns back towards me, "You coming?"

I couldn't help looking completely lost, "Ja, I'm coming."

* * *

I barge through the doors to the base, Monika and the others had decided to go for another walk. She had just been walking for more than 10 minutes with me, why on earth would she want to go for _another_ walk? Maybe she wanted to talk to them about something.

I continue my march up to my room. Something had hit my mind earlier with her, I felt like I could no longer get her out of my mind. I race around the corner towards the stairs and- "Ah!" I had run head first into Mike as I turned the corner, he was lying on the ground next to me, some liquid spilt all over him.

"Fooking hell Elias! My tea!"

"Scheisse! My bad Mike."

"I'm gonna have to clean this Sh** up _and_ make myself some more tea. What was the fooking rush?"

"Not too sure, honestly. Would you like me to make you some more tea?"

He looks down at his tea-soaked clothing, "No, you can get out of here, clearly you had _something_ to do. I'll take care of this."

I head up the stairs without another word, and charge into my room, closing the door behind me. What is wrong with me today? I needed to distract myself.

Walking to my bed, I almost trip over my shield. I wanted to work on it, didn't I?… Ja, that'll distract me for a while.

I make my way down to the workshop and throw my shield up on the desk. The shape of the shield was wide at the bottom, and thinner at the top. The metal was also very thick.  
I could make it thinner and it will still have the capability to stop the velocity of almost every calibre bullet I know of. So now that I think about it, I have a really bad design. Let's change things a bit.

I begin by disconnecting the panel on the back of the shield with the electronics, I then start prying off the flashbang attachments at the front of the shield, being very careful as to not flash myself again.

I look around the workshop for an alternative frame, and manage to find many Polycarbonate ballistic shields, sadly with the same shape as mine. I grab the welder and weld together the frame with other Polycarbonate pieces, creating a complete rectangular shape, offering more protection. I set it under water for a moment, it was difficult fitting the shield under the tap, so I spilt water everywhere, including onto myself. Steam filled the roof. I pick the shield up, it is very noticeably lighter, I actually started to get a bit excited, knowing that I will have great ease of mobility.

I throw the shield back onto the table, and grab the flashbang attachments. I hook them all onto the front of the shield and weld them on, leading the wires carefully and tightly around the shield. I flip it over, and attach the handle and rest of the system to the back. It takes a while of fidgeting to get the wires connected correctly, sadly I'm not an expert with electronics.

I had another idea, recalling to when I charged straight through a wall with the shield. It definitely did hurt when I did that. There may be something around here…  
I search around the workshop for a while, finding black hide padding. I take it all and spend some time attaching it to the back of the shield. It formed some sort pillow to the back to soften impacts. For me at least.

I wanted one more thing.

I find a large number of spray paints, and I pile them onto the table. I use a small sheet of metal, and lots of cedar and carob coloured spray paint to give it a makeover. With a bit of an artistic flair, I add a few unique additions, such as the German flag at the top middle of the shield, a black accent, and a GSG9 symbol. Lastly, I took the white spray paint and write on the shield,

' _Schau Hier, Lächele, Warte Auf Blitz!_ ' With an arrow pointing to the flashbangs. -(" _Look here, Smile, Wait for flash!")_

I take a step back and look at my creation. Felt quite proud of it, actually. I pick it up, eager to test it out, and run outside. I stop dead in my tracks and look around, confused. What? It was dark outside. I must have been in the workshop for a majority of the day, it definitely didn't feel that long. What time was it? Looks like this isn't going to happen.

I lead myself back into my room, most of the other operators had already gone to bed, apart from a few messing around in the lounge. I tossed my new shield onto the bed. The spray paint had dried miraculously fast, so I didn't need to worry about it leaving a paint mark.

There's a knock on the doorframe.

It's Monika.

"Hey, you." Her voice was gentle. "I didn't give you too many bruises today did I?"  
I roll my eyes. Her attention darted to the shield on my bed, and her jaw dropped. "Oh my God, Elias, what happened to your shield?"

"It was a little project of mine today, what do you think?"

"It's amazing!"

"You're amaz-" I immediately cut myself off, almost saying something I shouldn't have. I couldn't tell if she heard me or not, as she was busy admiring my shield.

She picked it up, and faces it towards me, poking her head up behind the glass frame. "Say cheese!"

Her vibrant eyes looked at me through the glass, I could easily visualise her lovely smile from behind the shield.

"Have you named it something?"

"I haven't thought of anything just yet."

She jumps onto the bed, "Well then let's do that now." She looks eager to come to some sort of decision.

I sat next to her on the bed. My room is messy, as usual. She didn't seem to be bothered by that today, though. She laid down and started wrapping herself in my blankets.

I think back to the training we did yesterday, and came up with an Idea.

"How about _Wandbrecher_?" (Wallbreaker)

The silence tells me we both disagree to that one.

She suggests an idea, "What about Snapshot _? Or Schnappschuss?"_

"Doesn't sound right."

She weighs the shield in her arms for a moment, and mutters "It's so much lighter." Her eyes widen as she sparks with another idea, "Oh! Ok, how about this. Since you have a much lighter shield now, you could name it _Augenblick!"_ (Blink of an Eye).

"Augenblick… I really like that." From her smile, I could tell that she appreciated what I thought of her suggestion. "Let's go with that, Augenblick. I'll be Looking forward to shoving it in Gilles' face."

She had now cocooned herself in my own bed with the blankets. Her eyes closed.

"Feeling tired?"

The only response I get is an "mm" from the blankets.

I guess I had to take initiative here.

I walk up next to her on the bed and scoop my hands under her body. Her eyes open in surprise, but she remains still. I lift her up and begin carrying her in my arms, blanket and all. She begins giggling but still doesn't try to stop me. I walk out the door with her in my arms, towards her room, pushing her door open with my foot.

I lower her onto her bed and step back. Only her eyes were visible behind the cocoon on blankets.

"Don't worry, I have more blankets," Assuring her. She looked up at me with her tired an innocent eyes, thanking me.

"I'll see you tomorrow." were my final words, before closing the door and leaving, walking back to my room.

I stop and lean on the wall before I reach my room, staring heavenward.

This is something I can't ignore it anymore. I understand how I feel about her.  
Monika has been such a close friend of mine for so long. But now... I think I might have fallen in love with her.

* * *

I'm sitting on my bed. For about 15 minutes earlier I had sat outside in the passageway, my head clogged with thoughts and emotions. I eventually decided to come back inside to my room.

I needed a way to share how I felt with her. Maybe I could show her one of my old talents. A smile formed at the thought, even though I was completely alone in my room.

Filled with inspiration, I get up from my bed and walk over to my desk. I knew what I'll do,

I was going to write her a song.

* * *

I almost fall off my chair as I lean backwards, swiping the drops of sweat off of my forehead. (It was a hot night, writing doesn't usually make me break a sweat.) The time was almost 3 AM, and I was incredibly proud of what I had created.

I had been sitting in this chair for the whole night, pouring all my blood, sweat and tears into this song. Part of me knew that she would love it, and part of me wondered how she would respond. When would I reveal it? I pick up my mess of paper and pens and am almost fantasizing dropping my tired self into my bed.  
I stand, noticing the imprint of my butt on the chair, and take a few steps closer…

...I wish I could say that I just simply went to bed and slept that night.

I can't.

Those next few seconds were one of the most terrifying moments of my life.

As I make my way towards my bed, I hear something that I wish I would never have to hear.

Within the space of a few seconds, I hear loud screaming and shouting in the distance, following with a resounding and powerful explosion that shakes the entire room, sounding very close to my location. Immediately a siren starts blasting, and the lights flicker.

At that moment I moved at speeds comparable to the flash.

I dropped my papers and picked up my P12, loading it with the only clip I have in the room, I grab my shield and threw on a basic bulletproof vest, putting on all my other gear would take too long. I charge out the door of my room, noticing that I was the first one out.  
Milliseconds later as I'm still exiting the door, Seamus' door flies forwards off of its hinges, and sprinting out into the corridor is Seamus, wielding his Sledgehammer, a pistol and wearing _nothing but his boxers_. We start charging forward towards the sound of the explosion, long before any other operators get out of their rooms.

Another explosion shakes the building, making us lose balance for a moment.  
Due to the lack of armour, and the light shield, I was able to move _incredibly_ fast, compared to my usual speed. We arrived at the scene in a matter of seconds, and we ran to the front doors of the building.

As we bolt out the doors, we're greeted by a group of 5 armoured men with white masks rushing towards the doors, meters away from us.

They seemed just as surprised as us, and I instinctually activated Augenblick, lighting up the area in front of us with a blinding white flash. Every single one of them dropped their guns and reached for their eyes. We quickly finish them off before retreating back into the building. I catch a glance at what had happened before I re-enter:

Large trucks had rammed into the perimeter of the base and detonated with some sort of enormous explosion, completely destroying the perimeter. There were what looked to be more than a hundred White Masks charging into the base.

We get back inside before we're spotted and look at each other.

" _Fu**"_

We quickly run back and meet up with the approaching operators, all armed and prepared while Seamus and I were standing here in almost nothing. More so with Seamus.

Mike shouts at us, "WHAT'S FOOKING GOING ON!"

"White masks are in the base, about a hundred of them." My tone now becomes more serious, as I address everyone, "No one can leave the building, we must fortify the location and defend until reinforcements arrive!" I made the assumption that the explosions would have been large enough to have gotten the attention of our military, so it wasn't long before reinforcements arrived, especially because we were very close to a military base. It would most likely a few minutes. "We may only have a matter of seconds before they burst through those doors, quick! Move!" I took leadership in that situation, something I've never done with every single operator before. Under circumstances like this, though, they all immediately followed my command and sprung into action.

I myself was quite unsure of what to do, I'm not used to a defensive role.  
Monika runs up to me, completely suited up and armed. "Elias! What do we do!"

She would have never expected something like this to occur. How did they even know we were here?

"Quick, come, stay behind me."

We make our way to the front door, I place my shield down in front of me and aim my pistol forward. Ela runs past us and throws two of her mines near the doorframe.

Julien comes up behind Monika and I and watches the front door, "Gilles does not have his shield, for now, I will be with you." We hear shouting from outside the doors. His attention switches to them. "Watch out, they will enter from here now."

As if right on cue, White masks with Metal shields charge through the front door, with many other terrorists behind them.

Ela's Grzmot mines detonate, disorientating them all, and granting us an opportunity of attack. The three of us open fire, and all the men drop like flies.

Miles runs in front of us and throws a barricade up onto the door. "Don't worry, no one's getting through these doors. I'll take it from here."

I stand back up and run towards the mess hall, Monika followed. I was startled to see the entirety of the Spetsnaz in a gunfight with multiple approaching White Masks. They had blown holes through the walls and were advancing quickly. The Russians had flipped over tables for protection, Alexsandr was shooting from behind the kitchen counter.

Monika taps my shoulder and moves to cover behind me. I charge forward, holding my shield in front of me. Augenblick remains solid as it absorbs a bombardment of bullets. Looking through the bulletproof glass, I see about 10 or so White masks. Once I near the group, I firmly press down the button on my shield and light up the room. They begin to fall to their knees and backs in front of me, shielding their eyes. I use my shield for stability with my P12 firing down at them all. With the help of Monika and the Russians, we make quick work of them.

The room was cleared, _temporarily._

Monika runs up next to me, we will have to push forward and clear them out. Clearly, the White masks are here to get rid of us.

We rush forward and jump through one of the holes in the wall, it leads out into the library. Yes, we have one of those. It looked as if multiple entrances had been created on opposite sides of the room. Monika signals me to move to the hole on the far left. I march towards it, as she moves towards the hole on the right side of the room.

I reach the doorway first, and check inside… Empty. I push a table up against it, maybe that would provide us with a little more time.

Suddenly there's a scream from my right. It was Monika.

I sprint towards her location, vaulting straight over two tables, and ploughing straight through an empty wooden bookcase. Nothing mattered in that moment. If I was hurt, so be it. I kept running. I was almost at the hole, but was struck with a horrifying sight. In front of me, I watch as Monika is thrown backwards into the ground, striking it hard. The man's mask was broken, his face bleeding. Neither of them had their weapons.  
I aim to fire, " _Click._ " _Oh no_. He jumped on top of her and pulled out his knife, striking it downwards.

She stops his arm in its tracks, holding it in place as a competition of strength unfolds. I was meters away now, pushing my body to the limit of its speed. The knife was drawing nearer to her neck, and I just manage to see a drop of blood spill as I hit him.

I have _never_ barged a man so hard before. In that moment, I threw all of my possible body force into a strike with Augenblick, and sent him flying backwards so fast that he was killed instantly upon contact with the shield. I must have struck his head very hard. I forgot to take my momentum into account and ended up sending myself many meters forward before tripping and falling onto the ground as well, knocking myself prone.

I could her Monika panicking back near the hole. She was ok, but her focus wasn't on me, it was behind me.

"Watch out!" She screams, dodging back into the library. I barely manage to pull up my shield in time before I take a barrage of bullets. I became terrified as I realised where I was…

I was outside.

There were White Masks everywhere, soon they would surround me. The smoke and fire made it difficult to see.

I continue absorbing bullets, and try to start backing away, but I was too far from the hole. I crouch down and protect myself with Augenblick. What do I do?

They were approaching me, barely meters away. A few of their guns were emptied, and they begin to charge at me, many follow, not wanting to shoot their allies.

I could only do one thing, I stand up and flash, charging further forward into the open, knocking someone over with the shield. I slam my fist into another blinded terrorist near me, but more approach before I can take any others out.

A White Mask runs at me and grabs my shield, I push him away and kick him in the stomach, causing him to fall over, struggling to breathe.

Multiple begin to approach me at once, the first knocking my shield aside, I almost lose grip of it. I pull out my knife and lunge at him,

I'm immediately knocked down as someone tackles me from my blind side.

I dropped my shield.

He's on top of me holding my arm down, I take multiple blows to my face. I think back to when Monika tripped me over with her leg. I attempt to pull the same manoeuvre, successfully pushing his leg so that he falls over himself.

I stand back up, left with nothing but my fists.

I could feel the heat of my blood on my face. My fists are raised in a guard. This is not where I will let myself die.

They surrounded me, and multiple rushed at once.

I strike one to the ground and am hit multiple times in the chest and face. I wind someone with a knee into the stomach, and grab another man by the leg, flipping him onto his back with all the force I can manage. Suddenly a sharp, excruciating pain fills my back.

I was looking away for too long.

Monika shouts for me in terror, "ELIAS!" I can see her grab some sort of metal pole from the ground and run out towards me. She doesn't make it far, and I watch as she takes multiple shots straight through her legs, causing her to fall over. She looks towards me, her tears shimmering in her eyes.  
I reach out to her, all I can manage is an agonizing cry of pain.

I'm thrown off the weapon onto the ground, my blood spilling around me. I manage to stand up, and I summon all of my remaining strength in order to run towards her. Seconds pass, and I almost manage to zone out the White Masks behind me, focusing only on Monika.

Then I hear gunshots.

Three piercing impacts hit my back, feeling like a spear entering my body. I couldn't maintain balance, and I fall, right in front of Monika.  
Her arm was extended out towards me on the ground. I reach out and grab her hand, rubbing my thumb over hers. I knew that I didn't have the strength to get us out of this situation. Her eyes were flooded with tears, and I could feel my own eyes welling up.  
Our gaze never parted, and for that moment, I felt the world around me blur. She was my only spotlight, and it felt as if everything would be alright.

My loss of blood was reaching dangerous levels, the world around me was starting to blackout, and I was about to fall unconscious. I grip her hand tighter.

Everything had now fazed, I could barely see.

A large number of blurry figures emerge from behind Monika, and I begin to hear muffled sounds of the rotors of Helicopters.

My world turns black as I hear more sounds of bullets firing.

* * *

My God, she was beautiful.

We stood together on the beach at sunset, it was quite a romantic setting.

She's dressed in short cut off jeans, with her loose shirt flailing in the wind.

We're watching the sunset together.

She loves watching sunsets. Sometimes she would even lie down and watch until the sun set, then stand up, and watch it again.

Her hair was let out, blowing in the wind similarly to her shirt.

I had bought her some hot chips, but I ended up eating them all. The was box left behind us on the towel.

"Hey, Monika?"

"Ja?"

"Would you ever consider leaving rainbow?"

Her eyebrows rose, she became very curious as to why I had asked that question.

"I… um..." She fails to answer.

"What I mean is, would you ever want a normal life? It's quite stressful being part of the worlds "greatest anti-terrorism organisation". Would you ever want a family?" It was a question that had been on my mind for awhile, and I had been close friends with Monika for a long enough time so that I felt comfortable enough asking this question.

She turns to me and embraces me without saying a word. I was shocked. We stayed like this for a few seconds before I hear her start sobbing, failing at fighting back the tears. I hold her tighter. This continued for what felt like a minute. I couldn't help feeling bad about asking the question.

She finally responds, softly with her sobbing voice, "Ja. I would love a family. But, Elias, this line of work is my dream, and I couldn't have a family like this." She pauses and sniffles, finally pulling away from me. I keep my hands on her shoulders.

I waited until she looked into my eyes, "Monika, you'll find a family, the family that you have always wanted. I _know_ it. But for now, Rainbow is your family, and they will always be here for you. _I,_ will always be here for you." Tears filled her eyes again, but this time she was looking hopeful. She blinked and a tear dropped down her cheek. I embraced her again.

"I'm sorry" She manages, quietly whispering under her voice.

"No, _I'm_ sorry. I ate all the chips."

* * *

I've always thought about that moment we shared together, it was something that I would never forget. This is the first time I've had a dream about it, I felt as if I was truly there, and that my connection with her was stronger than ever.

I struggled to open my eyes, but finally managed. I was in a hospital, with… Gustave in front of me? He was staring down at his clipboard, standing at the other end of the hospital bed; he hadn't noticed that I was awake yet.

The room was completely empty, apart from Gustave and I.

My back was in a lot of pain, though my face felt much better. I could feel bandages wrapped around my chest. Apart from the extreme fatigue, I couldn't feel any other problems with me.

Had I just survived that madness?

Wait. A wave of realisation hits my face, and I speak up.

"Where's Monika."

I startle him, and he drops his clipboard onto the bed. "Elias! You're awake! Thank god, I was beginning to worry about you, it took longer than I expected for you to regain consciousness. I feared that you may enter a coma." He shuffles over to me, and checks my vitals.

I question him with a more aggressive tone, "Gustave, Where is Monika."

"She is at our new base of operations, Hereford is, _broken,_ for now. Do not worry, she is alive."

The wave of relief that hit me calmed my spiralling emotions. "And how am I?"

"Well, I'm honestly quite surprised that you're even alive right now. You were brought inside as reinforcements arrived to clean up the mess. I had no time to get you to a hospital, so I proceeded with the operation on the Library table. I stopped the blood loss and retrieved the bullets from your back, before sending you here.  
You are quite a lucky man, I must add. That single, light bulletproof vest that you threw on significantly reduced the velocity of all three of the bullets. It also reduced the depth that the knife entered your back. Due to this, nothing punctured your lungs, or reached your heart. In addition, everything missed your spine. The only problem was the rapid loss of blood, which I, of course, halted."

"Looks like I really sprung a leak. Wow, Gustave. Thank you."

"Do not thank me, this is my job. Now get up, let's see if you can stand."

I reluctantly get up from the bed. To my surprise, standing didn't hurt all that much. I stretch out a bit. "Feels… bearable."

"Interesting. That's the fastest recovery I've ever seen. You see, I began adding some new "Ingredients" to my stims, and it seems to have significantly increased both you and Monika's regeneration speeds."

"How fast of a recovery are you talking?"

"Well... It's still the same day as you were injured. From around 3 AM to now: 8 PM. So it took you around 17 Hours to heal adequately. So you are capable of performing regular tasks again."

That was only this morning? That means the operation is tomorrow.

I look towards the door. Would I be able to-?

"Yes, you may leave." He tells me. It felt as if he had read my thoughts.

"Just ensure to keep the bandage on you, you can replace that daily until the wounds have fully healed. I'll deal with the papers, you may leave now." He picks back up his clipboard and starts taking notes, before walking out the room behind me.

I march away and step out the doors of the hospital, unsure of where to go. Luckily I'm greeted by our commander, leaning against the doors of a limousine waiting outside the hospital.

He was wearing dark shades, and a grey suit, looking as serious as always.

"Blitz! Over Here!"

I arrive next to him.

"Figured you'd need a ride, hop in." He opens the back door for me and gestures inside. The airconditioning hits me like a strong wind on a hot day. I lay horizontally on the seats, wanting to sleep. But then the commander looks back at me, "We had a mole. One of my own hand-picked recruits." He takes a deep breath, looking disappointed with himself. "I take full responsibility for your and IQ's injuries, It was my fault."

He changes the topic of conversation, and asks, "On another note, I heard you have quite the story to tell."

* * *

The vehicle stops, I couldn't see anything outside the windows apart from a few lights scattered here and there. I reach for the door handle,

"Hold up for a minute." He interrupts. I should tell you that we managed to recover that new shield of yours. _Also,_ I entered your room while you were in the hospital, and I found _this."_ He holds up a slightly creased, folded piece of paper in his hands.

"Didn't think you had that in you. Hopefully, it doesn't seem like an invasion of privacy. It's good to see you all forming stronger bonds. You're probably going to want this." He adds, handing me the paper. It was my song.

"Everyone should be up at the house." He finishes, returning his attention to the darkness of the windscreen in front of him.

I step out of the limousine and take in my surroundings. In front of me was what looked to be a two-storey building, it had a beautiful ocean view under the dim moonlight.

I follow the pathway up to the main door. Was the commander certain that this was the place? It was awfully quiet.

I grab hold of the doorknob, and push open the door slowly, peeking inside. It was too dark to see anything, and I couldn't find a light switch. I walk inside and feel the walls.

Suddenly the lights switch on and I'm almost scared to death when I see an entire room of people staring at me.

" **Surprise!** "

"Holy Scheisse!"

In front of me, I see all of my fellow friends and operators, squished into one room, presenting me with a surprise celebration of… my survival maybe?

Immediately Monika runs out from the crowd and tackles me onto the ground. "Thank God you're alive! I thought could have lost your stupid ass this morning." Her tears shone in her eyes. She smiled at me and her voice became soft and quiet. "You saved my life."

"I told you that I would always be there for you."

Her blue eyes glowed above me. She grinned and embraced me tightly for a while, before Dominic eventually interrupts. "Come on, we can't have much of a party if you two are just going to fall all over each other the whole time. Elias, Gustave told us that you were awake and on your way, so we decided to scare the fu** out of you. It looks like you almost shi** your pants!"

"That may just be the case," I joke.

We get up from the floor and people spread out throughout the house. I now notice what the house contained, large rooms with pool tables and couches. Miles had set up the music and started playing it loudly throughout the house. There was even a bar, with Shuhrat passing out a variety alcoholic beverages.

It was amazing to see everyone as happy as they were, especially after such a traumatic event as this morning.

Monika herself looked excessively happy, she was bouncing on her toes. She reaches out and grabs my hands, "Elias, could I talk to you about something? Upstairs?"

"Of Course" I hold the paper tighter in my left hand, "I think I have something to tell you as well."

She starts dragging me up the stairs, but I held her back for a moment, "Wait, you go ahead, I'll be up in one second. Just need to get something."

She follows my wishes and heads upstairs.

Behind me, a voice teases, "Looking for one of these?"

I turn around, It was the commander again. In his hands, he held an acoustic guitar.

"I kept one of these around for you after reading your note. Just waiting for the right moment." He hands it over to me, "Good luck, _Elias._ " He flashes me a wide smile. That was the first time he called me by my name.

I couldn't help but smile back, "I might sing it for the rest of you, eventually."

He crosses his arms, "I'll be looking forward to that," following with a chuckle, yet another sound I've never heard from him.

Not wanting to keep Monika waiting, I take the opportunity and rush upstairs. She wasn't in any of the rooms, but the bedroom window was open. I peek out and see her lying down on the roof outside, gazing at the stars. She notices me, and giggles, "I was starting to wonder if you would _ever_ find me."

I climb out the window, leaving the guitar just out of sight back inside.

I lie down next to her, also starring heavenwards.

We both seemed comfortable with the silence.

We laid next to each other for a while, ignoring every one of our problems and issues, nothing mattered except for us, and the stars.

She breaks the silence, sitting up.

"Elias… I think I know what you want to tell me."

All give her a half-smile, "And I think I know what _you_ want to tell _me_."

I think this was the right time. "Here, I've got a little surprise for you."

I stand up and walk to the window, grabbing the guitar and pulling it over. As soon as she sees the instrument her eyes widen and she covers her mouth. She knew what was coming now. I sit down next to her, staring straight into her magnificent blue eyes. She look so happy, and I hadn't even started yet.  
I hold the guitar on my leg, hanging them over the edge of the roof. I could remember the song without using the paper, having spent that much time on creating it.  
The song begins smooth and gently, and after a few seconds, I begin with the lyrics, which I had carefully crafted around our experiences together and the feelings that I have towards her. Her facial expressions change throughout the song. She is initially in complete shock, hearing my singing and expression of my feelings within the song. She quickly becomes extraordinarily happy, and I enter the final verse. My favourite verse. I made sure to address her most important feelings in the song, about family with Rainbow and with her own family. I sing to her about the feelings that we share, but I end the song with a specific few lines, singing them slowly:

"Because what matters most is Family,

So would you start a family with me?"

We both break down. Her face floods with tears, I couldn't help but shed tears myself.

I place my hand on her cheek and wipe away a tear with my thumb.

" _Monika, I love you._ "

She lunges forward and next thing I know, her lips are against mine. She had her arms around my shoulders. I place my other hand behind her back and pull her in slightly closer, falling back so that we were lying back on the roof. Her warmth spread across my face.  
We refused to part from each other's lips. They remained together for what felt like forever, through streams of tears, and sobs of pure bliss. I stroked her hair and caressed my finger against her cheek, both of us still refused to retract our lips.

I pull her right up against me, and we laid there, below the open night sky, acting upon our true feelings towards one another.

I loved her, and she loved me.

* * *

 _End Chapter._


End file.
